Link annotation for keyboard navigation

• US 8,473,857 B1
• Filed: 02/12/2010
• Issued: 06/25/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/26/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Schneider, Fritz
• Primary Examiner(s): Chow, Doon
• Assistant Examiner(s): Pham, Linh K
• Application Number:
  US12/705,427
• Time in Patent Office: 1,229 Days
• Field of Search: 715/764, 715/207, 715/221, 715/224, 715/256, 715/719, 715/723, 715/728, 715/733, 715/760, 709/207, 709/204, 709/205
• US Class Current: 715/764
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/957 Browsing optimisation, e.g. caching or content distillation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/011 Arrangements for interaction with the human body, e.g. for user immersion in virtual reality blind teaching G09B21/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/02 Input arrangements using manually operated switches, e.g. using keyboards or dials
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0489 using dedicated keyboard keys or combinations thereof

Abstract

A computer navigation system and method has one or more interactive links displayed on a display connected to a computer appliance, and one or more visual linktags associated with individual ones of the one or more interactive links, the linktags displaying one or more numbers, characters or symbols, the system enabled to initiate an interactive link in the display upon user input of one of the numbers, characters or symbols in a linktag.

Claims

1. A method performed by one or more devices, the method comprising:

displaying, using one or more processors associated with the one or more devices, a plurality of interactive links on a display device;

detecting, using the one or more processors, a particular user input;

assigning, using the one or more processors and based on detecting the particular user input, one or more characters to one or more of the plurality of interactive links displayed on the display device,

a different character, of the one or more characters, being assigned to each respective interactive link of the one or more of the plurality of interactive links, without user input identifying the different character or the respective interactive link;

displaying, using the one or more processors and after assigning the one or more characters based on detecting the particular user input, the one or more characters, with the one or more of the plurality of interactive links, on the display device,

the one or more characters being removed from the display device when the particular user input is detected after displaying the one or more characters;

detecting, using the one or more processors, input associated with a particular character of the one or more characters; and

retrieving, using the one or more processors and based on detecting the input associated with the particular character, a web page associated with an interactive link, of the one or more of the plurality of interactive links, to which the particular character is assigned.

2. The method of claim 1, where detecting the particular user input comprises one of:

detecting a vocal input from a user, or

detecting a key input from a keyboard.

3. The method of claim 1, where displaying the plurality of interactive links on the display device comprises displaying the plurality of interactive links within a web browser, and

where displaying the one or more characters comprises displaying the one or more characters within the web browser.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

assigning one or more additional characters to one or more icons of a plurality of icons associated with a desktop application;

detecting another input associated with a character of the one or more additional characters; and

launching, based on detecting the other input, an application associated with an icon, of the one or more icons, to which the character, associated with the other input, is assigned.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

assigning at least two characters to each of one or more other interactive links of the plurality of interactive links.

6. The method of claim 1, where detecting the input associated with the particular character comprises:

detecting a vocal input from a user.

7. The method of claim 1, where detecting the input associated with the particular character comprises:

detecting a key input from a keyboard.

8. A system comprising:

a memory to store instructions; and

a processor to execute the instructions in the memory to;

display a plurality of interactive links on a display device,

detect a particular user input,

assign a plurality of characters to the plurality of interactive links based on detecting the particular user input,

a different character, of the plurality of characters, being assigned to each respective interactive link, of the plurality of interactive links, without user input identifying the different character or the respective interactive link,

display, on the display device and after assigning the plurality of characters to the plurality of interactive links, the plurality of characters with the plurality of interactive links,

the plurality of characters being removed from the display device when the particular user input is detected after displaying the plurality of characters, and

retrieve a web page associated with a particular interactive link, of the plurality of interactive links, to which a particular character, of the plurality of characters, is assigned,

the web page being retrieved when another user input, associated with the particular character, is detected.

9. The system of claim 8, where the processor is further to:

detect the other user input associated with the particular character.

10. The system of claim 8, where, when retrieving the web page, the processor is to:

determine whether the particular interactive link is assigned to the particular character, and

retrieve the web page based on a result of determining whether the particular interactive link is assigned to the particular character.

11. The system of claim 8, where at least one of the plurality of interactive links is associated with a universal resource locator (URL).

12. The system of claim 8, where the particular user input comprises one of:

a vocal input, or

an input from a keyboard.

13. The system of claim 8, where the plurality of characters are displayed on the display device and removed from the display device based on a JavaScript code.

14. The system of claim 8, where the processor is further to:

assign one or more characters to one or more of a plurality of interactive elements of a web browser,

where the plurality of interactive elements comprises at least one of one or more user input objects or one or more graphic objects,

detect a second particular user input, and

display, based on detecting the second particular user input, the one or more characters with the one or more of the plurality of interactive elements, on the web browser,

the one or more characters being removed from the web browser

when the second particular user input is detected after displaying the one or more characters a second time.

15. The system of claim 14, where the processor is further to:

detect a user input associated with a first character of the one or more characters,

select, based on detecting the user input associated with the first character, a user input object, of the one or more user input objects, to which the first character is assigned,

detect a user input associated with a second character of the one or more characters, and

select, based on detecting the user input associated with the second character, a graphic object, of the one or more graphic objects, associated with a second interactive element, of the one or more of the plurality of interactive elements, to which the second

character is assigned.

16. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions, the instructions comprising:

one or more instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to display a plurality of interactive elements on a display device;

one or more instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to detect a particular user input;

one or more instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to assign characters to the plurality of interactive elements,

a different character, of the characters, being assigned to each respective interactive element, of the plurality of interactive elements, without user input identifying the different character or the respective interactive element;

one or more instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to display, on the display device and based on detecting the particular user input, the characters with the plurality of interactive elements;

one or more instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to remove the characters from the display device when the particular user input is detected after displaying the characters; and

one or more instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to retrieve a web page associated with an interactive element, of the plurality of interactive elements, to which a particular character, of the characters, is assigned,

the web page being retrieved when a user input, associated with the particular character, is detected.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, the instructions further comprising:

one or more instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to detect the user input associated with the particular character.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 17, where the one or more instructions to detect the user input associated with the particular character include:

one or more instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to detect vocal input from a user, or

one or more instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to detect an input, from the user, using a keyboard.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, the instructions further comprising:

one or more instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to detect a first input associated with a first character of the characters;

one or more instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to launch a first application based on detecting the first input associated with the first character;

one or more instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to detect a second input associated with a second character of the characters; and

one or more instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to launch a second application, different than the first application, based on detecting on the second input associated with the second character.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, where the one or more instructions to detect the particular user input include:

one or more instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to detect vocal input from a user, or

one or more instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to detect an input, from the user, using a keyboard.